On aircraft with three-point landing gear and tail wheel, forward visibility is blocked by the engine. If another aircraft is standing directly in front of you, you cannot see it. Therefore, a frequent cause of accidents is that a pilot approaches and overlooks the aircraft in front of him. Then there is a break before the mission even started. This is very annoying on servers where the number of planes is limited.

In reality, the pilot can already see when boarding whether another aircraft is in front of him. The problem is more likely to occur with virtual flying, especially if there is no pilot coordinating the traffic.

To avoid accidents it is important to lookout.  There are the following methods:

1. Use of external views,
2. Adjust viewing height via TrackIR,
3. Lean to the side with TrackIR,
4. Yaw the aircraft.
5. Request help.

Use of the Outside Views

This is of course the simplest method, but also the least realistic. In addition, the use of external views is prohibited on many online servers. Therefore one should also master the other methods.

Adjust Viewing Height via TrackIR

This method is slightly cheating and does not work with every flight simulation. As an example the Bf 110 E-2 in "IL-2 Great Battles" difficult to steer in zigzag lines when taxiing on the ground.

• You sit upright on your chair and have your TrackIR centered normally.
• Now duck a little and press the key combination to re-center.
  
• When you're sitting straight again, your line of sight is increased enough to look over the nose.
  
• This only works if the cockpit is open! 

Lean to the Side with TrackIR

You just lean over to the left or to the right with the cockpit open again:

Yaw the aircraft

If you don't have TrackIR or if the simulation doesn't allow the above two methods, you have to yaw your plane:

• Apply one brake only, if necessary apply the same rudder.
• Cautiously accelerate until the aircraft yaws slowly.
• Reapply both brakes.

Once it Is clear ahead of you straighten the plane back to the runway heading by performing the same steps in the opposite direction.

Request Help

Ask other pilots who can see your location to confirm if everything is clear in your blind spot.